Surgery of the heart valves without using artificial prostheses
Written by:Cardiac valve surgery can be done by reconstructing it, avoiding using artificial prostheses. The postoperative recovery of the patient is much faster and, the complications that may arise diminish .
Heart valves are complex structures whose function is to open and close in a coordinated manner so that blood circulates in the right direction. There are 4: aortic valve, mitral valve, tricuspid valve and pulmonary valve. All of them can be affected by different pathologies in the form of stenosis (obstruction to flow) or insufficiency (inability to close properly) .
The abnormalities in the heart valves can be solved without having to change them for artificial prostheses. In cases of valvular insufficiency we can perform a repair or conservative surgery of the patient's own valve. In cases of stenosis , we can open the valve itself (comisurotomy), change it for human tissues (homografts) or perform the Ross operation .
Repair of heart valves
By preserving the valve itself, we often avoid the patient having to take anticoagulants (Sintrom®) for life and preserve the architecture and function of the heart. The postoperative recovery is faster and the complications much smaller.
Although it is not always possible to repair the heart valves. In the problems of mitral regurgitation, we can repair it with guarantees and good long-term results , almost 100% of the valves. In cases of aortic insufficiency, the percentage is approximately 50-60%.
Decrease the risk
Currently you can perform heart surgery with a very low risk (1-2%). The risk is variable for each patient and depends on age, cardiac pathology, the contractile function of the heart and the presence of other pathologies added (renal failure, previous embolisms, etc ...).
Operation of Ross
The Ross operation is used in young patients with aortic valve problems. It consists of replacing the diseased aortic valve with the patient's own pulmonary valve. In pulmonary position we implant a cryopreserved pulmonary homograft. The results are very good, the patient should not take anticoagulants and can live a full and totally normal life.
